The Diviners

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

January 26, 2011

PHAMALY is no longer just PHAMALY. The Bar has been raised once more. Under the direction of Christy Montour-Larson, PHAMALY'S production of Jim Leonard Jr's play, The Diviners, currently playing at the Aurora Fox, takes the company to a competitive level, standing shoulder to shoulder with just about every other theatre company in the Denver-Boulder arena.

Eddie Blackshere and Nick Ortiz-Trammell in the Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League's "The Diviners" at the Aurora Fox.

The PHAMALY (Physically Handicapped Actors And Musical Artists League) actors reach deep into their souls to present a stunning presentation of the Depression-era portrayal of the factious town of Zion, Indiana during 1932. Population of Zion is 40. The fields are dry, while Faith starves for attention. Everyone has a story lined with hopes and dreams indented with scars around the edges

Funny, poignant, breathtaking, the play centers on a boy, Buddy Layman, who nearly drowned when he was 4 years old. His mother, bound and determined to save her son, loses her life in the process. Brain damage corrupts his thinking and behavior. Some see him as silly. Some see him as stupid. Some see him as a bother, but he has a gift they need. He has the ability to divine for water.

Daniel Traylor wondrously allows Buddy to take over, providing an award winning performance with compassion, insight, and ingenious comprehension. Traylor will knock your socks off. As Buddy struggles to communicate, through Traylor's eyes you can see the jumbled thoughts flitting round in Buddy's head. This brain-damaged boy has a great deal to say, and he just can't get the thoughts formed into understandable words.

Don Mauck and Jason Dorwart in PHAMALY's production of The Diviners. .

Into the drought-filled town, wanders a once-upon-a-time preacher, C.C. Showers. His father was a preacher. His grandfather was a preacher. His great grandfather was a preacher. He no longer can swallow the words forced from his mouth. He's hungry. He'll work at whatever. He'll sleep wherever. He just doesn't want anyone to know who he was. He wants to forget the humiliation heaped upon his soul from failing to live up to his proud lineage. His drought-filled spirit is as bare as the fields in Zion from lack of nourishing water.

Played by Jeremy Palmer, C. C. Showers becomes alive with despair. The chemistry between Palmer and Traylor transfers mightily between Buddy and Showers. Although his eyes may be tired and dim, Showers sees something within the struggling boy that no one else can. Maybe, because the town and his family have watched the boy grow physically, shuddering over the tragedy, they find stupid easier to deal with, missing the awesome gift, which is Buddy himself.

Protective and sensitive, Buddy's sister, Jennie Mae, played wonderfully by Lyndsay Giraldi-Palmer, reflects a warm tenderness toward Buddy that glows in her eyes.

Giraldi-Palmer makes you secretly wish that every Special Needs child had someone in their life to match Jennie Mae's relationship to her brother. Many do. But, many don't.

Jason Dorwart plays Buddy's Father, Ferris, wedding a deep sadness for the tragedy, for the loss of his wife, and the reality of keeping body, mind, and spirit together on a farm thirsting for water.

Jeremy Palmer, Daniel Traylor and Lyndsay Giraldi-Palmer in PHAMALY's production of The Diviners. Photo credit: Michael Ensminger

He wants to hire C. C. but not until he finds out what this stranger has done, where he comes from, and what brings him to this god-forsaken land. In agony, C. C. forces his guarded revelation.

At the local restaurant, over doughnuts and coffee and root beer for Buddy, Ferris digs deep into C. C.'s past.

Briana Berthiaume plays the waitress, Goldie Short. No one is getting to eat anything until some'ne says Grace. Flighty and out-spoken, the restaurant is her territory, and here she rules the roost tied in with a delicious sense of humor. When it comes to Grace, however, she means business. Of course, it isn't going to be Buddy, and you can bet your boots it isn't going to be Ferris. Palmer's expression of sheer agony for C. C. nearly breaks the heart.

Edward Blackshere, who has been seen in numerous PHAMALY productions, now has a role he can get his teeth into. Playing Melvin Wilder, Blackshere demonstrates timing for comedy that is utterly delightful. His eyes sparkle and laugh along with his pungent words. Something there is about Melvin that brings Blackshere thunderously alive. Then again, maybe it's Blackshere that brings Melvin into reality. Melvin feeds Blackshere, and Blackshere is enabled to turn Melvin loose. The humor is greatly needed and appreciated.

Darlene Henshaw, a young girl, feels her eyes bug out when she sees C. C. for the first time. Played by Elise Marie Hallot, she brings smiles of memories of early puppy love. It is shy Dewey Maples, played by Nick Ortiz-Trammell, however, who has eyes for Darlene. He wants to ask her to a dance so bad he can taste it. Melvin encourages him, eggs him on, and teases him, becoming exasperated by his hesitancy. When Dewey finally gets his nerve up, he encounters what he hadn't planned on, the confrontation with Darlene's Aunt Norma, delightfully played by Kathi Woods, who's indignation of Darlene dancing forces her to grab Dewey by the ear. Dancing is a sin. It says so in the Bible. Don't ask her where. It doesn't matter. She just knows, and she will hold on tight to whatever she can, no matter how out of line it may be,

Tina Anderson's set design nearly becomes a character of its own. Featuring several levels that easily become whatever is required: the inside of a home, a barren field, a restaurant, reflects the town's thirst for water, thirst for hope, thirst for a rainbow in the sky as well as in the heart.

Coupled with El Armstrong's Sound design and Stephen Mazzeno's Lighting Design, the effects fit warmly around the divining characters, all looking, all wanting, all hoping for dreams to unfurl. Norma wants to believe so deeply that C. C. will heal Buddy her over exuberant vocalization of the alluded truth will make it come true.

The end of the play combines tragedy and revelation forming hope and peace in a dried up community, With the lights, the sound, and the insight of the actors, this production will literally leave you in your seats with your mouth open. You want to cry and laugh and smile all at the same time. It becomes clear to everyone that Buddy's life wasn't stupid, wasn't dumb, that he indeed was and is a Blessing.

Don Mauck as Basil Bennett, and Twanna LaTrice-Hill as Luella Bennett completes this engaging, talented, creative cast with awesome moments of their own.

The Diviners is a production not to be missed. It's going to be the talk of the theatre community for a long time to come, as well it should be. In talking with some of the actors following the production, they all were eager to give credit to everyone else.

Jeremy Palmer and Daniel Traylor in PHAMALY's production of The Diviners. .

The Diviners is a play with heart sewn into the fabric of reality. Although it comes directly out of the Depression-era, it feeds every era, particularly the right-now era of drastic economic seizure. They may be poor, but they grasp onto life with a vengeance in the hopes something good will happen. They count on it. They believe it, even if it means grabbing someone by the ear, or holding forth the doughnuts until someone says Grace, the spirit of life trickles, waiting for someone or something to discover it through the divining

Although The Diviners only plays through January 30 at the Aurora Fox, an encore presentation plays at the Arvada Center for The Arts & Humanities, February 24-27.

No wonder they give each other credit. Each PHAMALY production requires many un-sung heroes who help with costumes, and whatever support each actor requires. Without them, there would be no PHAMALY production. The live in the background, but for those who know them, they live. These volunteers deserve red roses, huge hugs, and a monstrous Thank You.

On a personal note, I have to add. The Diviners is the first review I have been able to complete, which, to me feels like a lifetime. As the town of Zion divined Buddy's true gift, it created my own juices to flow, a wondrous gift all by itself. If that isn't theatre at its best, then I don't know what is.

The Diviners
By Jim Leonard Jr.; directed by Christy Montour Larson